When entering the imperial city, there is no need to be as strictly guarded as outside the palace. Yunxi, Yunzhi and her two maids walked in front. Only two guards continued to follow Yunxi and escorted him all the way to Qianqing. Door.
Yunzhi ordered her two maids to leave, and said to Yunxi with some confusion: "Brother Emperor, my sister looks at those two people as neither civil officials nor military generals. Brother Emperor, what do you want to tell them?"
"My brother has met one of them before, and he is a businessman. The other brother has not seen him, but he is probably a businessman." Yunxi answered casually, not realizing that Yun Zhi was suspected of being involved in politics.
"Businessmen? What did the emperor do when he saw two businessmen?" Yunzhi asked in surprise. Since the Han Dynasty, the four people have been ranked among scholars, farmers, industry and merchants. Although the status of merchants has been greatly improved during the Mongolian and Yuan Dynasties, after Zhu Yuanzhang succeeded to the throne Strict restrictions were placed on merchants, and the ban was gradually lifted after more than a year after Yunxi succeeded to the throne. However, due to inertia, most people still looked down on merchants.
"Of course I have something to tell the two of them." Yunxi said: "Since my grandfather founded the Ming Dynasty, he has always wanted to abolish the situation of Han people as slaves. This is also stipulated in the "Ming Dynasty Law", but it has never been possible. .But when my brother saw these two people today, he realized that there is hope for solving this problem."
"In addition, merchants also play a role as merchants. Sometimes, they are more useful than imperial guards and do not have to spend the court's money."
Yunzhi was very surprised when she heard this. She couldn't understand the two points Yunxi said. How can two businessmen solve the problem that the talented grandfather has not solved? And how can the businessman be better than Jin Yiwei?
However, she already realized that her words were suspected of political interference, so she kept silent.
Not long after, Yun Zhi took her to Kunning Palace, and called Yun Lan and Yun Yun to have dinner together. Yun Zhi took out the gadgets bought from outside the palace and gave them to Yun Lan and Yun Yun sisters. She talked to her two sisters-in-law, nephews and nieces about what she had experienced when she left the palace. She emphasized the amazing performances she had seen at the Washi, which made Yunlan and others very envious.
Yunxi saw the envy in their eyes and said with a smile: "You don't have to envy Yunzhi. Later, I will ask Wang Xi to discuss the arrangements with the people of Jiaofangsi, and summon these people into the palace in the name of Jiaofangsi." Come and perform for you."
Of course Yunlan and others were overjoyed and thanked them repeatedly, and Yunxi agreed with a smile.
After dinner, everyone dispersed. Yunxi gave Xiyao a few instructions and got up to go to Jinshen Hall. Although Xiyao was a little confused that he had something to deal with so late, he didn't ask anything and just gave instructions. Don't be too late.
…
…
In the Jinshen Palace, two men who were not lacking anything were sitting in a pavilion restlessly. This was the palace, the palace of the Ming Dynasty, and they were already very nervous. At the same time, there were many people around who were missing something and were staring at them. , his eyes even glanced at their crotches intentionally or unintentionally, which made them even more nervous.
One of the dark-skinned people couldn't help it anymore and said to the person next to him: "That person just now was really the emperor of the Ming Dynasty? Is this really the palace of the Ming Dynasty?"
"You have asked me several times, besides His Majesty the Emperor, who else in the world can such a graceful and noble person be? Where else in the world can such a magnificent palace be besides the Ming Dynasty's palace?"
"But, what did the emperor of Ming Dynasty call us to do?" Although the person asking the question was not a citizen of Ming Dynasty, he had done business in Ming Dynasty - engaged in smuggling business. He also knew that the status of merchants in Ming Dynasty was not high, so he was not interested in the emperor.
He was puzzled that he would meet two businessmen in person.
"Probably he has something to give you. When the emperor summoned me outside Shanghai, he gave me orders to accompany the army and merchants."
"Is there going to be another war and recruit merchants to accompany the army?" The man became excited. Doing business during a war can bring huge profits.
"No, after the last example, as long as the imperial court does not declare that merchants will not follow the army, there will definitely be many merchants willing to follow the army to do business. The emperor does not need to do it again."
"Then why is this?" After the dark-skinned man said this, he was about to mutter a few more words when he suddenly heard a voice coming from the door. He immediately stood up straight and stood side by side with the other man.
The man surrounded by the crowd walked in and immediately knelt down and said: "Xiao Zhuo, a commoner/Zheng Pai, a commoner outside the story, have met your Majesty. Long live your Majesty! Long live your Majesty!"
Yunxi stood there and waited for them to kneel three times and kowtow nine times according to etiquette before sitting down. Wang Xi ordered: "Stand flat."
Xiao Zhuo immediately stood up with Zheng Pai and continued to stand in front of Yunxi anxiously.
Yunxi turned his head and asked Wang Xi: "Are these two people you saw that day?"
"Your Majesty, there is no doubt that Xiao Zhuo is the person I saw that day; but this person is called the Zheng faction, so I can't be sure." Wang Xi replied.
"Xiao Zhuo." Yunxi turned his head and said to him.
"The grassroots are here."
"On that day you sold your slaves, but to this man?"
After hearing this, Xiao Zhuo's heart trembled, and he paused before saying: "The people who sold slaves that day were not this person, but another person. That person had left the capital and went to Shanghai three days ago, and he is probably gone now.
Went to sea."
He immediately knelt down and said: "The common people sell slaves from outside the country without authorization and violate the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty". The crime deserves death! The crime deserves death!"
Zheng Pai also reacted at this time. Although his movements were a little stiff, he knelt down and said: "Your Majesty, the people who sold slaves with Xiao Zhuo at that time were the people of Waifan. If Your Majesty wants to execute Xiao Zhuo, the people of Waifan are also willing.
Let’s die together.”
Xiao Zhuo suddenly felt bad after hearing Zheng Pai's words. Saying to the emperor that a crime deserves death is just a common expression, and it does not necessarily mean that they deserve death. But as soon as Zheng Pai said this, the emperor might really give them death.
Two already.
He was anxious, but he couldn't say anything at this time. He could only bang his head and stagger, admitting his guilt.
Unexpectedly, Yunxi suddenly laughed out loud and said: "Xiao Zhuo, Zheng faction, you two are equal." After the two of them stood up, he said again: "Did I ever say that I would be punished because of you selling foreign slaves?
The matter will be handled by you."
"Thank you, Your Majesty, for your kindness." Xiao Zhuo said immediately. At the same time, he thought in his mind: 'There is no punishment for this? So what exactly is the emperor going to instruct us? Can he even ignore the "Da Ming Law"?'
After that, Xiao Zhuo stood quietly three feet away from Yunxi, waiting for Yunxi's final instructions to him.
But Yunxi said something that surprised him: "From tomorrow on, you will not only sell foreign slaves, but also sell them on a large scale, so that all the powerful families in the capital will know, and sell slaves to such families."
It turned out that after Yunxi returned to the capital, he gave Wang Xi more than ten days of leave to go home to accompany his mother and family. On this day, he was chatting with several brothers, and heard his eldest brother say: "Lao Wu, the price of slaves in the capital is too expensive."
, a decent-looking maid costs dozens of guan, even a young maid costs ten guan, and an adult man costs five or six guan. In our hometown, no matter how beautiful the girl is, she only costs a few guan.
"
"The capital city is rich, not to mention the government's strict control under the emperor's feet, so it is so expensive." Wang Xi said.
The two of them talked for a few more words, and suddenly Wang Xi's fourth brother said: "Speaking of which, in the past two days in the market, there were people selling slaves very cheaply. A big man only has two or three knives."
"How can there be such cheap slaves?" his elder brother asked immediately.
"It's the human market in the east of the city. This man is a new face, but he has a familiar face as a guarantor." His fourth brother said: "But the slaves this man sells are all different. He doesn't speak Mandarin very well, and no one can understand him.
If you understand, the man said he bought it from the mountainous areas of Fujian, but to me it sounded like he was from a foreign country."
Wang Xi immediately paid attention after hearing this. According to the "Da Ming Law", people are not allowed to sell foreign products privately. How can this person be so bold and dare to come to the capital to sell? And the price is so cheap?
Later, he went to the human market with his fourth brother and immediately recognized that one of the people selling foreign slaves had met Xiao Zhuo for him, and he immediately understood why he sold them so cheaply.
During this expedition to Annan, more than 300,000 Annan people were killed, and more than 300,000 Annan people were sold as slaves. Since the officers and soldiers of the Ming Dynasty supplied the traffickers in bulk, the price was very cheap; Annan is also close to the sea, so
The transportation cost was also low, so Xiao Zhuo came up with the idea of selling them to Ming Dynasty.
Several major cities in the Ming Dynasty were very prosperous. The price of slaves was higher than that of other countries in Nanyang. The profit earned from selling one was more than the profit from selling two in Nanyang. Among them, the capital was the most expensive place. If it were normal, he might not
I am willing to take this risk, but this time because there are too many slaves supplied to the entire Eastern market, it is difficult to sell them in Nanyang for a while. Even if I am willing to buy them all, the price paid is too low. In order to make money as soon as possible, Xiao Zhuo
Regardless of the danger, he and Zheng sent two people to the capital in person to sell Annan slaves.
Although this matter violated the "Da Ming Law", Wang Xi knew that Yunxi seemed to have a different view on such things than the "Da Ming Law", so he did not let his two brothers tell Ying Tianfu about the matter, but told it himself after returning to the palace.
Yunxi.
Yunxi was overjoyed when he heard this. He had long wanted to truly abolish the Han slave system. In order to set an example, the eunuchs in the palace had long been castrated barbarians since childhood. As long as the maids were not attracted by him, most of them
A person can leave the palace at the age of twenty.
But Yunxi also knew that his prestige was not as good as Zhu Yuanzhang's. It would be very difficult for him to accomplish things that Zhu Yuanzhang had not accomplished. It was impossible for a big family to not have slaves, and it was impossible for all servants to be hired.
, some of the personal servants must hold their identities in their hands, otherwise they will not be at ease; it is impossible to let them all use barbarians: Under normal circumstances, the cost of catching a barbarian to come to the Central Plains is scary and expensive.
Of course, it will be far above the local slaves, and no one will buy it.
But this time, the price of the slaves sold by Xiao Zhuo was lower than that of people in the Ming Dynasty, so he gave Yunxi a way to do this: let Xiao Zhuo contact all the traffickers who bought cheap slaves from the Ming Dynasty officers and soldiers, and send Annan to
All his slaves were sent to Ming Dynasty to be sold.
At the same time, he took advantage of the "Laws of the Ming Dynasty" which only stipulates that people from outside the country are not allowed to be sold as slaves, but now that Annan has become Zhu Zanyi's fiefdom, it is no longer outside the country. In theory, the people of Annan are not people from outside the country and can be sold in the Ming Dynasty.
'The loophole left the courtiers speechless.
In this case, on the one hand, there are Annan slaves who are cheap and legal, and on the other hand, there are Han slaves in the country who are expensive and easy to violate the "Ming Law". Most people will choose to buy Annan slaves.
As for the future, Yunxi planned to find a suitable time to abolish this rule and allow foreign people to be slaves in the Ming Dynasty, thus completely solving this problem.
Of course, he would never allow people whose appearance was too different from the Han people, or who believed in the Tianfang Sect to be sold into the Ming Dynasty as slaves, and it was even less likely that he would allow black people to be sold over. However, the Ming Dynasty is so far away from the place of origin of the black people, so there is no need